Nightmares
by DestinysKiss
Summary: In seven days, the world will end... A dark enemy has invaded, but this is one they can not fight, or hide from. And this time, the enemy is closer to home...
1. Revealed

In seven days, the world will end...  
  
'Wake up,' a soft voice whispered from the corner of a dusty room. 'Serena.' I paused briefly, tasting her name, melting it into its tongue like butter. 'It is almost time'  
  
Half asleep, Serena looked up from beneath the giant feather duvet, clutching it tightly like a child to a mother. In the corner of the room, a dark shadow was cast against the wall, however, there was no light to feed it. She stared at it for what seamed like an eternity, praying silently under her breath for it to fade, for it to go to the place where all shadows go. Finally, building up enough courage inside her, she reached over to the tiny bedside table and turned on the lamp next to her bed. The blinding glow illuminated the room, casting new shadows upon the walls and banishing the old. The shadow in the corner, however, remained untouched by the light.  
  
'In seven days, the world will end.' The voice whispered one final time, in a voice so sad and full of pain that it seamed as though it might cry. Then, the voice vanished, along with the darkness in the corner...  
  
'Hey Serena, Ser-e-na' Mina sang, her voice trailing up and down like a roller coaster.  
  
'Wake up mush for brains.' Rei nagged, not missing an opportunity to pick on her friend. She reached over the café table and prodded the blonde girl across from her between her eyes 'Earth to Serena' She belled.  
  
It was afternoon, with school finished with for the semester and everybody was celebrating as usual at the arcade.  
  
'Huh, oh sorry.' The doe eyed blonde apologised, her mind still to far away to realise that Rei had just poked her. 'Did I miss something?' She asked, her concentration finally returning to the real world.  
  
Lita finished a mouthful of apple pie, 'No,' she said as she gulped down the mouthful, 'but you've hardly touched your desert, and well, no offence Serena, but you look as though you have just been hit by a truck.'  
  
'And it reversed.' Rei cut in, only to receive a chilling glare from Serena.  
  
'Lita is right though,' Amy agreed, trying to smooth things over. 'Those bags under your eyes do not look healthy.'  
  
'More like sandbags'  
  
At that moment Serena was about to blow a fuse, but Amy very calmly placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder, which somehow always made every problem seam to melt away and make everything all right again.  
  
Appreciatively, Serena gave her a loving smile. 'It's nothing,' She sighed and stirred her cherry coke with her straw, hypnotising herself. 'Have you ever woken up at night and thought that you were still dreaming?' She asked, not even aware that her lips were moving.  
  
An icy gust of wind came billowing through the open doors, catching her blonde pigtails and whipping them around her like Cobras striking.  
  
Standing in the doorway was Darien, bruised, battered and bloody. 


	2. Reality

'Darien' Serena's scratched voice breaks though the icy silence. Her words seam to shatter like glass as she jumps out of her seat, knocking over her cherry coke in the process. It spills to the hospital like floor like time slipping away, but Serena does not notice. Her heart beats slowly grow louder in her head, every thump is agonising. Time has all but stopped, the seconds tick by, her legs felt like jelly. She slid up next to Darien in the spilt second that his bloody legs give way beneath him and he collapses into her arms. Unable to support his weight, her legs buckle beneath her and together, like rag dolls, they collapse to the ground. His crimson blood staining her eggshell dress.  
  
'Darien, speak to me,' a glass tear falls from above and lands on his cheek. Gracefully, it rolls off, blending with blood and turning the drop crimson. She cradles his head in her arms and bend down close to him. Softly, she kisses his lips 'Darien please,' her voice is all but a whisper as somewhere from the distance, four pairs of feet come rushing up behind her.  
  
'Darien,' Amy gasped and crouches next to Serena. Instinctively, she takes up Darien's wrist and checks it for a pulse. She bites her lower lip and stands back, giving Serena room.  
  
'Oh god, is he?' Mina asks, her arms embracing Lita. Amy simply looks solemn. 'Call an ambulance.' She softly replies and casts her eyes downwards. 'So he's?' She tries again, but the words refused too budge from her vocal chords.  
  
'Darien,' Serena wailed, her voice breaking through and crying out in pain, she clutched his lifeless body in her arms and rocks him back and forth. 'Darien, don't do this to me, you can't leave me. I love you' She stops rocking and buries her head in his chest. 'You can't leave me, we have a future, we have a destiny. You are my destiny Darien, you are my destiny.' She repeated over and over again, her voice squeaky.  
  
'Who or what on earth could have done this?' Amy asks, inspecting the wounds on his legs. She rolls up the black fabric of his pant leg, taking some melted flesh with it.  
  
The smell of his body is sickening, 'oh god,' Mina gasps and looks for what Serena's reaction might be, but she remains almost lifeless. Still buried in Darien's chest, gazing up into his deep blue, but now bloodshot eyes. Repeating his name over and over again, she raises a trembling hand and runs it through his dark locks.  
  
'It looks as though he has been burnt,' Amy stated, studying his wounds closely. 'But what could have done this much damage, and so specifically,' a look of horror over came her face. 'It looks as though he has been burnt from the inside out.'  
  
'Amy,' Lita bent down next to her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. 'This is probably not the best time to be doing this.'  
  
The two held gazes for a moment, 'of coarse, I am sorry,' She apologised, realising her insensitivity and looked at Serena, still trailing a trembling hand through her lovers hair. 'Serena,' She said softly and stroked her blonde head, 'We are just going to wait outside, the ambulance should be coming soon and it will need to know where we are.' But Serena made no sign of acknowledgement. Amy looked at the scouts and gave a nod. Then gracefully she stood up and walked outside.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, Serena watched them leave, something inside of her turned as a deep pain of loneliness overcame her, and she suddenly realised how quiet the building was. Slowly, she lifted her head up off Darien's chest and looked around her for the first time. The place was deserted; there was no movement, no sound except for the slow drip of her coke onto the floor. The sun had already set, and dusk had covered the room in shadows.  
  
'Girls?' She croakily called, her voice struggling to produce any sound. Serena looked outside, but there was no one insight. They were gone, and darkness had come. Her heart sank into her stomach, the horrible feeling that overcomes you when something bad has just happened and all you can do is wait for the consequences. Hot air seamed to be coming from somewhere in the far side of the room.  
  
'Hello?' Serena called like a victim starring in a cheap horror movie. Almost entirely forgetting the previous events, whether from shock or being beyond distraught, Serena stood staring into the shadows of dusk; letting the warm air sooth her tear stung face.  
  
'Ser-e-na' a voice came from the shadows. The air around her was growing hotter, turning the arcade into an oven. It was then that she saw it, a shape emerging from the shadows.  
  
'Darien,' she spat the words through her teeth, 'It was you, and you did this to him.' Her eyes blazed with anger more unforgivable than fire. 'You did it, you killed him.' She hissed, her face growing crimson with anger, tears starting flowing uncontrollably once again. Tears of rage. 'Show your face and fight, Coward!' She screamed into the air. 'Show your face and fight.  
  
The voice laughed, echoing around the room, appearing to come from every direction. 'Oh my dear girl,' It smiled. 'I have no face...' It hesitated at the words. 'Yet...'  
  
The air around her continued to burn. Serena looked down at her arms, her skin slowly turning a tomato red, but she felt nothing. Serena was dead inside, her heart filled with pain and her blood with rage. Her skin was slowly starting to blister, small air pockets rose out from underneath her skin, the bubbles making their way over her arms and legs, then finally moving up to smother her face. She dropped to her knees. 'Yes, my girl. You feel that, don't you.' It smiled. 'Yes Serena, the end is coming. I am coming. Serena, Serena.'  
  
'Ser-e-na.' Mina's voice trailed up and down like a roller coaster.  
  
'Hey, wake up mush for brains.'  
  
Suddenly, Serena snapped awake.  
  
'What's wrong, you look as though you have seen a ghost.' Lita waved her hand in front of Serena's eyes, testing to see if she was still with the world. 'Serena, are you okay?'  
  
'Darien,' She gasped and jumped out from her chair, spilling her cherry coke on the floor in the process. She ran over to the place where Darien had laid, but there was nothing.  
  
'Serena, are you alright?' Amy asked as she walked up and clutched Serena's hand in her own.  
  
'Darien, where is he?' Serena asked with glazed eyes. Frantically, she looked around the room. 'Here, he was lying right here.'  
  
'You were just daydreaming.' Mina explained as the rest of her friends walked up behind her.  
  
'No, that just happened. It was real. He died; I was holding him in my arms. He... ' Her mind searched through the facts, desperately trying to find an explanation. She looked at Amy with pleading eyes. 'I'm not crazy Amy, it happened. It was real. I'm not crazy.' She said one final time to reassure herself. 'I'm not crazy.' 


End file.
